First Qatar stock exchange IPO since 2014 likely

Discussions with the unnamed family-owned firm were in their final stages, according to the exchange’s chief executive Rashid Al Mansoori.

There have not been any IPOs on Qatar’s stock exchange since the listing of Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding in 2014. Naseem Zeitoon / Reuters

A family-owned retail company next month will become the Qatar Exchange’s second listing of the year, according to the exchange’s chief executive Rashid Al Mansoori.

Discussions with the unnamed family-owned firm were in their final stages, said Mr Al Mansoori on the sidelines of the Arab IPO Summit in Dubai yesterday.

"It's in the process, hopefully IPO-ing in April," he told The National.

He did not give an indication as to the size of the IPO listing.

It follows the approval granted in January to Qatari construction contracting firm Investment Holding Group (IHG) for the listing of 60 per cent of its share capital in the country’s first IPO since 2014.

Shares in IHG were offered to Qatari citizens between January 8 and 22 in an offer worth about 503 million Qatari riyals (Dh507.4m).

“We’re talking to several [other] family-owned companies who are interested in going to IPO, but they are in the early stages,” Mr Al Mansoori said, declining to give further details There had not been any IPOs on Qatar’s stock exchange since the listing of Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding in 2014, attributable to low liquidity, high volatility and poor market performance after the drop in oil prices. ​

The recovery in oil prices since the end of 2016 and the increase in domestic projects in the country triggered an uptick in interest in local listings, according to Mr Al Mansoori.

Two exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are also due to list on the stock market before the end of June.

The two Qatari ETFs – one Islamic and one conventional – would be listed by the end of the first half of the year, said Mr Al Mansoori.

The ETF listings come a week after the announcement by the Dubai stock market of a new platform for the trading of ETFs by selected investors including market makers, authorised participants and liquidity providers.

The Qatari exchange is also awaiting the approval of its shareholders to conduct an initial public offer of its own shares, said Mr Al Mansoori.

“We’re still waiting for a shareholder decision,” he said, adding that the IPO “is a strategic decision and there is no pressure”.

Mr Al Mansoori did not give a time frame for the IPO.

The exchange is owned by Qatar Holding, the investment arm of the country’s sovereign wealth fund the Qatar Investment Authority; in 2013, Qatar Holding bought out NYSE Euronext’s 12 per cent stake.

Dubai Financial Market is currently the only listed Gulf stock exchange. Its shares are listed in Dubai.

At the same event yesterday, Yarub Awadh Albadi, a senior executive of Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority, said that the CMA had received enquiries from GCC companies considering listing on its new parallel market, Nomu.

The companies were in the process of appointing advisers to support their potential listings, said Mr Albadi.

The Nomu market, which was launched on February 26, is designed for small and medium sized businesses, requiring a market value of at least 10 million riyals, minimum number of shareholders of 35 to 50, and an offering of at least 20 per cent of its shares.

* with Reuters

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